Monthly Archives: March 2016

Brad is mowing the fairways that he can on Foxfire and Jose is finishing up the Players Club Tees. A beautiful day yesterday with a high of 75 turned over night with .9″ of rain, which is 1.6″ for the last 4 days. Today is windy with gusts up to 30Kmph. Started out promising for the sunrise and then the clouds have rolled back in. Tuesday and Wednesday should be better with sunshine and highs in the 50’s.

Jim is grinding the last reel for the John Deere 2653A trim mower. Reynolds Farm and Turf came to pick up the Kubota this morning and we are waiting on a few more parts for the other 5200D fairway unit that were on back order.

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15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Happy Easter to everyone who reads this across the world! Nancy and I have many friends, family, preachers, lawyers, doctors, and teachers across the globe and yes that composes most of my family too! Oh, and I have my own personal Judge- he mows the greens! What an outstanding dependable Judge! I defer to him for many rulings! You know who you are and what state or country you are in! We pray daily for y’all! God continues to be truly amazing and I would have never imangined the amount of people my blog reaches. Thank you to Rev. Ben my first cousin, who set up the site for me. He and his wife are brilliant Duke alumn and have an editing entity. Nancy and I been blessed to work with and meet many wonderful people from all over the country and in many other countries over the years.

On March 16, which would have been the Reverend Robert Lee Nicks’s 100 year birthday, one of my grandfathers, I recorded 2 radio segments for Mrs. Catherine Wood and her wonderful organization that Nancy and I support along with my parents and siblings. Why me? You’ll have to listen to both shows! It is a story of God’s grace, redemption, and mercy! But most importantly Hope for everyone! Great meeting Bob Burney! He has the afternoon show!

Below is a copy of Catherine’s bio and a link to Relationships Under Construction. She and her staff go in to the school houses of the public where they are not permitted to mention God and teach children about healthy relationships. Their savvyness and talents God has given them is beyond comprehension. Nancy and I do not have children but if we did and they had to go to a public school house they would have a Bible in their backpack, and I would want them hearing her message. The first segment is a minute (small) portion of what her program does ergo I was unable to mention God but next Saturday’s segment will be God’s testimony through me that all the world should hear! I prayfully encourage you to go to her website and donate any amount that you can afford, but most importantly pray for her oraganization the relies on donations. Catherine did not ask me to say that part nor put this on my web page. I have copied excerpts from her web page below! So if your in Ohio today turn on and tune in the radio to 880 AM!

Catherine Wood Radio Show

Saturdays at 4:00pm & Sundays at 10:30am

Mission Statement

Teaching youth the blueprint for strong future families. Our program addresses character development, goal setting, how to recognize healthy and unhealthy relationships, and dating violence while exploring the issues of fatherhood, motherhood and healthy family formation.

Catherine’s Bio

Catherine Wood is the President of Relationships Under Construction. Catherine oversees Relationships Under Construction and conducts training seminars, teacher in-services and parent meetings. Catherine is the author of the program’s curriculum, Relationships Under Construction for 6-12th grades. See more at: http://www.wrfd.com/LocalHosts/1433#sthash.7TgelBpt.dpuf

880 AM WRFD This link should work but if not copy the above link to hear previous episodes.

Someone told me in the store up here. “Boy you caint grow Sunflowers in Ohio in March! I said I might not be able too but God can! God has blessed me with the ability to grow anything anywhere!

Gary R in Sarasota, this is what I was watering when we spoke last Monday and now their cracking! I was waiting and well, even started to doubt because of the ole’ farmers statement. Surly, growth, goodness, and mercy shall always prevail! Great speaking with you all when I get the chance!

1 Cor 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them- yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

Thank you Brad, TJ, Jose, and Tom and Paula for coming out yesterday! We had a great day cutting fairways, roughs, and tca! Tom cut the Foxfire tca yesterday which was the second cut on Foxfire. Jose finished the Players Club Monday. We would have been finished last Friday but a hydraulic hose broke on the left front reel motor. This is normal for a unit that has 4500 hours. Jose, pictured below is mowing the first cut of the season on Players Club.

Brad tested the unit on Foxfire below, and when then chain saw broke down I sent Jose above to start cutting Players Club.
All the greens have been mown twice and we will cut them today and Thursday. The Judge will preside over the greens.

Jim did an excellent job getting the units assembled on the 5200 D. We still have parts on order for the other greens mower and the John Deere first cut mower. The John Deere First cut mower needs new rollers on 3 reels for a total of six rollers. 3 Rollers came today! That’s service. Thanks Justin for stopping by on your way out here off the grid in Galena! Jim can start assembling these in am.

I have no idea why the water on 16 Players is springing up out of the ground. The power to the pump stations are off, the cross over valve is closed, and when we get the backhoe fixed I may be able to dig it up and see. It could be the under ground Teays Valley River. I am not sure but we will find out in due process. It is not impeding play. Photo below is the cut through from Foxfire 11 to 16 Players and a connection or cross over line was added to bridge the two systems. Hydraulic leak last Friday on #6 Players below, ergo when you see a brown line you know what happened. Look at how pure the cut is! Jim did and excellent job grinding and setting the attitude of the bed knife. Attitude is everything, literally! The sidewinder above is ready for operation. We will need to get Fred back out here to operate it.

First cut above with the 6700 D that has 5 of 7 units operating and is what we utilized last year for 36 holes. This year we may have 2 fairway units and possibly a 3rd!

This is the reel below that the new rollers go on! The John Deere 2653A will be our intermediate rough or cut mower around the fairways, and the plan will be to utilize the 6700 D at 1.75″ outside that cut. Then the 4000 D rough mower will have less work when the plan comes together. We only have the one 4000 D rough mower for 36 holes so variable creativity in step heights of cut will be necessary to establish a friendly faster pace of play for the golfers. In turn this should generate more revenue for the club.

We got one of our New Holland tractors back last week and John Deere said they will pick up the Kubota to repair it! I expect the other New Holland update any day now! The Kubota is leaking fuel somewhere in the engine causing it to leak out of the block.

Kubota below when I pulled the dip stick out fuel came gushing out of the engine!

And finally below was an opportunity to share a bit of my story for a friend in the studio. I recorded two segments and I will update more about it towards the end of the week. Stay tuned! See you on the course!

Special Thank you to Andy & Brandy for your hospitality last Saturday at the lake house in Apple Valley! Always great to catch a game with you! I’ve know Andy for 30 years or more and we have seen many games It is always great when Duke wins! Andy runs the big tall bank in the down town!

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Zechariah 10:1Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain, from the LORD who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.

We had an inch of rain yesterday afternoon with in 45 minutes. That is 2.1″ of rain in 3 days. Thanks to Tom & Bill for coming back yesterday evening and helping with the water removal! We will need a new gfi outlet for the sump pump. The down spout was repaired. Possible showers again today then the forecast is too cool off for the first day of Spring with possible snow Sunday morning.

Jim has been working on the frame of the Toro 5200 D fairway unit. Most of the bushings and pins have been replaced.

No we are not using the chain saw on the fairway unit! Billy and I saw another bubble yesterday from all the water. This was on 18 Players. We will get one of our New Holland tractors back from Franklin Equipmnet tomorrow. The TC 48 They are installing new clutches. The photo below is the TC 55.

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The weather this week is a typical Florida Winter day! Remember we are still in Winter in Ohio. Low 50’s high in the 70’s. It’s another great day for golf. Please fix your ball marks the grass is not growing yet! It is trying to “wake up” ! We are still in Winter but all signs are pointing towards an early Spring which means any poa annua control needs to be applied this week, and crabgrass control will need to be applied early April at the latest! I would not be surprised to see dollar spot activity earlier this year as well!
Jim has gotten a greens mower ready and hopefully by the end of the day we will have a tee, collar, and approach unit ready. All the greens will be mowed today and the pins relocated. Ideally, we would also roll the greens to smooth them out, but I will have to see if another course will let us borrow one to accomplish that task. The Judge made it back from Alambama to help out today and TJ. All the greens will need blown off first! Then we will now them and I will set the pin locations.

Jim got the parts needed to get this mower with 7,000 hours running again! Hopefully it will make it another season! He put brakes, pins, bushings, new reel motors, and various other springs and levers that operate the Toro.

We also replaced a lift cylinder that was leaking hydraulic oil, and replaced a hydraulic line.